Ch.44Imperial Invasion (2)

In a vision through clairvoyance magic, the Ghost’s neck was severed by a jewel-adorned sword. The Commander felt his world go dark at the thought of losing talent personally selected by the Emperor because of him.

The Special Forces member was a hero in the making, worth five Sword Masters alone. How tragic that such a being was now gone.

Of course, Ghost had a weakness to holy magic that would have prevented him from becoming a true hero, but how many such talents existed? While the Empire had many who were stronger than the Special Forces, they were all elders approaching their sixties.

In such circumstances, the Special Forces members in their teens and twenties were truly the Empire’s treasures. And now one of those treasures was lost.

As tears rolled down his face, the mage reported an anomaly.

“Commander? Something’s wrong. The clairvoyance magic is active, but we can’t observe the forest.”

The sudden anomaly brought the grieving Commander back to his senses. Just moments ago, they had witnessed Ghost’s death, so what was this about?

“What do you mean? Is it just one area that can’t be seen, or everything?”

“Everything, sir. It’s as if a massive flow of magical energy is blocking the clairvoyance magic…”

At those words, he looked again at the magical tool, the Far-Seeing Light. But the device showed only a black screen, revealing nothing.

While they were trying to find a solution to this sudden anomaly, a communication spell connected.

“…El… att… main… anni…”

Only these four fragments were clearly audible. It seemed the Elven Forest was indeed engulfed in massive magical energy, as even the communication spell wasn’t working properly.

“El… Elves? Elven att… Elven attack! The elves are attacking and something’s happened! Adjutant! Prepare the horses! If clairvoyance magic won’t work, we’ll have to see with our own eyes!”

“Yes, sir! I’ll prepare them right away!”

As the adjutant left and the Commander fell into thought, he pondered the last words that had come through the communication.

Main anni. Surely not… He refused to believe it. His country had deployed 30,000 soldiers, a thousand knights, a magic battalion, and ten Sword Masters. How could the main force possibly be annihilated?

Thinking it was nonsense, he mounted his horse when the adjutant reported preparations were complete, and they rode to the hill.

From there, they should be able to see the first entry point where the main force had entered. What he saw from the hill, however, brought his worst fears to life.

The bodies of the Empire’s proud soldiers lay everywhere, and there was no sign of the knights or mages. The Sword Masters were nowhere to be seen either, but in a situation where the main force had met such a fate, how could they have fared any better?

As he stood shocked at the unprecedented annihilation of the main force, figures riding a white tiger appeared in the distance. Recognizing them as Special Forces members, he recalled their request.

They had said they would lure the Minotaur to the first entry point and asked for preparations to be made there to capture it.

But now all those preparations were useless. What good were ballistas without soldiers to operate them? What use were steel nets without knights to restrict the creature’s movements? What purpose did weakening scrolls serve without mages to use them while keeping the beast at bay?

In this bleak situation, the Commander made his decision.

“We… retreat.”

“Sir?”

“Order all remaining troops stationed here to return to Imperial territory. They can leave all supplies behind if necessary—just prepare to depart immediately.”

“But… the main force and the Special Forces members are still…”

“Look at this situation and tell me, Adjutant. Two Special Forces members challenged a single Minotaur, failed, and tried to borrow the Empire’s main force. But where is our main force now? All gone. Soldiers, mages, knights, and even our Empire’s pride, the Sword Masters—all of them!”

At those words, the adjutant fell silent. The loss of soldiers and knights was within acceptable limits—they could be replaced upon returning to Imperial territory. After all, they hadn’t started this with the intention of waging a proper war; it was just a war to obtain a target.

But if the Sword Masters and Magic Battalion, brought to end this war as quickly as possible, had perished… that was different.

The Empire had only 100 Sword Masters in total. About 60 were stationed in various kingdoms, and the rest led wars like this one.

Today, one-tenth of the Empire’s Sword Masters had vanished. Such a major loss was unprecedented for the Empire, not seen since the all-out war with the Three Kingdoms long ago.

The same applied to the Magic Battalion. Centered around 8th Circle mages, with members of each circle gathering to channel mana to the 8th Circle caster, they weren’t created simply by assembling people.

They were beings formed through tremendous training, learning how to distribute mana, when to give more, when to give less. And the 8th Circle mage at the center had to control the overflowing mana from others while casting spells—a highly difficult form of magic.

Creating such individuals required at least 5-10 years of training, and they too were gone.

All this had happened because of his own disgrace. Though he would likely forfeit his life here, shouldn’t he at least save those who were still alive?

“Issue the retreat order immediately. Since communication magic is unusable, you’ll have to do it yourself.”

With those words, the adjutant departed with a grim expression, and the Commander sighed, rising to return to headquarters to prepare for his end.

At that moment, screams erupted as their encampment began to burn.

* * * * *

The Commander rushed down to the suddenly burning encampment, but… it was already hell.

The necks of countless soldiers who had remained at the camp were flying through the air, bodies pierced by arrows were flung in all directions. Various spells burned and tore apart tents, and flying boulders crushed everything in their path.

The scene that unfolded before his eyes at headquarters was hell itself.

He tried to take command and evacuate as many soldiers as possible, but the enemy mercilessly crushed his efforts.

It pained him to see the Empire’s great soldiers throwing away their weapons and fleeing, but in a war already lost, this was to be expected.

“Retreat! Retreat! As many as possible must return to the great Empire! Anyone who can move, retreat to the Empire!”

The Commander, not even caring for his own throat, continued to order the retreat. To help as many people escape as possible, he even waved the headquarters flag.

But no matter how much he shouted, no one reached the headquarters at the rearmost position.

No one… human, that is.

Through the burning encampment, elves appeared one after another. They numbered around a hundred. In their hands were the heads of those who had been commanding the soldiers.

“Ah… Herson, Roman, Cain, Berom! How could such capable men end up like this…”

The Commander couldn’t hide his grief as he recited the names of his commanders one by one. Like himself, they were all commoners who had earned command positions through sheer ability, gaining recognition in noble society. How could they…

“Oh? Do you need these heads? We were just carrying them around as a warning, so we don’t really need them. I’ll give them to you.”

Starting with the elf at the front throwing the head he was holding, the others followed suit, tossing heads at him.

All were people he knew, who had worked with him for years. Some had been capable enough to succeed him as Commander, but…

Due to his misjudgment, these talented individuals had met a tragic end. Unable to accept this reality, the Commander charged at the elves with his flag, but…

*Ting—*

His feeble strength couldn’t even pierce an elf’s finger. He met the elf’s indifferent gaze.

His vision inverted.

He had surely been facing the elf, so why did the elf now appear upside down? With this question, he bid farewell to life.

* * * * *

“Whew, that was a good warm-up. Shall we head to the capital now?”

Lian, the Elven Knight who had slain Sword Master Lakan, spoke up. Despite having slaughtered tens of thousands of soldiers, Sword Masters, knights, and mages, and continuing the massacre here, she referred to it as a warm-up. Commander Rune responded to her:

“No, as we head toward the capital, we’ll kill any nobles we find in human villages along the way. When enough nobles die, they’ll destroy themselves fighting each other. We’ll also kill anyone who resists us.”

As the Elven Knights nodded and prepared to leave—

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

Continuous explosions from within the forest. The sound of something massive colliding echoed from the forest all the way to their encampment.

“It seems Lord Minotaur is fighting something huge? Such noise is quite rare.”

“Hmm. Well, it’s not our concern… For now, let’s clean up here and gather anything we need. If Lord Minotaur doesn’t appear by then, we’ll depart without him.”

At Commander Rune’s words, the other Elven Knights began to move. Very slowly. At a pace that contrasted sharply with how quickly they had slaughtered the humans earlier.

The explosions stopped, and the Minotaur’s roar was heard. Shortly after—

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The Minotaur appeared.